


Caught Up In It

by secondhand_watermelon



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Alcohol, Bathing/Washing, Boys Kissing, Flashbacks, Het and Slash, Lust, M/M, Memories, Mutual Pining, Nudity, Rain, Requited Love, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:42:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23641786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondhand_watermelon/pseuds/secondhand_watermelon
Summary: From a prompt by enthusiasticaudience on Tumblr: "Link gets caught in the rain and comes home shivering."When Link shows up on Rhett's doorstep in the middle of the night, soaked from an unexpected rainstorm, Rhett is troubled by the secret knowledge his friend seems to have, and his own unsettled feelings of confusion and desire. Warming up his best friend seems to unleash a whole other kind of heat.
Relationships: Jessie McLaughlin/Rhett McLaughlin, Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 44
Kudos: 131





	Caught Up In It

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to enthusiasticaudience for this great prompt, and their infinite patience with my need to write literal thousands of words for a 10-word prompt.
> 
> So many thanks to captainsourwolf and mythical-ross for their beta reading skills and encouragement.

The sound of the doorbell echoing throughout the house roused Rhett out of bed with a start and a curse. He glanced at the alarm clock, took in the soft green glow of the numbers declaring it to be 1:30 am, and swore again. His head felt oddly fuzzy and ached, and his mouth was uncomfortably dry. Fumbling his way down the stairs with an endless stream of grumbling as the soundtrack to his current lived experience, he unlocked and threw open his front door, heedless of the fact that he was wearing threadbare boxer shorts and nothing else.

“It rains, like, twelve times a year in LA,” Link growled at him from the doorstep, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, “and of course the skies open up _tonight_?” He stared at Rhett for a moment, blinking raindrops from his eyelashes, then finally demanded, “Are you going to let me in, or - ?”

“Dang it, yes, sorry,” Rhett said hastily, pulling the door open wider and moving aside so Link could stumble, dripping, into his foyer. He glanced around for a blanket or coat, anything to wrap his friend in, but nothing caught his eye. He turned back to the other man. “Um, let me get you a towel.”

“Hurry up, jeez, I’m freaking soaked,” Link grumbled, and Rhett shot him a sleepy glare. His body felt tense and ill-at-ease, like he was exhausted and adrenaline-fueled at the same time, and he didn’t feel particularly charitable, no matter how cold Link appeared.

“What the hell are you doing here, anyway?” he called over his shoulder grumpily, as he thumped down the hallway to the bathroom. He yanked three huge fluffy towels out of the linen closet and returned, his eyes widening slightly as he watched Link awkwardly struggle out of his soaking-wet tee shirt and drop it in a sodden heap on his floor. “Dude, not on the rug, dammit.”

“Sorry,” Link muttered, nudging the shirt off the rug and onto the bare floor with his foot. He then toed off his shoes and bent double to yank off his socks, which also appeared to be soaked through. He tossed them on top of his shirt and straightened up, gesturing at Rhett for one of the towels. Rhett noticed his friend wore an odd, curious expression. “You’re really asking me that?”

Rhett frowned. “Uh, yeah. It’s really freaking late. I was sound asleep.”

Link glanced at him again, his eyebrows knit together. “Seriously?"

Rhett shrugged a little irritably. Clearly Link thought he should know something he _didn’t_ , and he wasn’t in the mood to play games. Warily, he watched Link swallow, then shrug in turn. “Felt like getting out of the house, I guess?” he answered slowly. “Guess I thought you’d still be up, what with Jessie and the boys gone. You told me you always stay up late when they’re gone ‘cause it feels like freedom.”

Rhett watched him towel-dry his hair and scrub the soft fabric up and down his arms with a scowl. “First of all, it’s the middle of the night. Especially for you. Second of all, I don’t think I said _freedom_.”

“You definitely said freedom,” Link corrected him, teeth still chattering. He let the damp towel drop to the floor as well and reached for the button on his jeans. Rhett noticed that his hands were shaking violently, far more than usual.

“Planning to just strip off in my entryway?” Rhett asked wryly. Link cast an annoyed glance in his direction and pulled his jeans open. “Why’d you wear the world’s skinniest jeans for a late-night unannounced visit, anyway? You’ll never get those off.”

“It’s what I was wearing,” Link mumbled, not meeting his eyes as he shoved at the heavy, clinging fabric. “Fuck,” he added with feeling. “I think you’re right. I gotta sit down. Come on, you probably need to help me.”

“For the love of - ” Rhett started, but he followed Link into the next room anyway, the last towel in hand. “Put that towel under your ass, will you? Jess’ll kill me if there’s water rings on her sofa.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Link replied, spreading out the towel. Rhett frowned. He was still shaking pretty hard, and his voice trembled regularly with shivers. Link plopped down on the towel and stretched out his legs stiffly in the wet fabric, looking up at Rhett pleadingly.

Rhett huffed out a low sound and knelt down between his friend’s legs, reaching for the waistband of his jeans. “Uh. Lift up,” he instructed gruffly, feeling a blush warm the apples of his cheeks as Link obediently arched his hips up to allow Rhett to pull at his pants, inadvertently putting certain parts of his body much closer to Rhett’s face. He fought to tug the jeans down Link’s trembling legs, getting a couple of inches with every wrench, until at last they were scrunched up around Link’s knees. He paused, sucking in a breath, and chanced a look up at Link’s face.

His friend’s lips were bluish and slightly parted around violently chattering teeth. His eyes were closed tightly, as if to shut out the sight and sensation of Rhett stripping him of his clothes, but when Rhett risked resting a huge warm hand on his lower thigh, they shot open, wide and a bit too bright.

“I’m really freaking cold, man,” Link said shakily. One of his hands fell to cover Rhett’s on his leg, and Rhett winced at the chill on his skin.

“Okay, we’re gonna get these clothes off and you’re getting in a bath,” Rhett decided firmly. “I’ll make you some tea while you’re in there. Then maybe you can tell me what’s so dang important that you couldn’t just freaking FaceTime me like a normal human.”

“Didn’t know it was gonna - gonna rain,” Link retorted, but there was no fire in his words. He studied Rhett again with a searching, uncertain gaze. Rhett was starting to wonder what was going on - what exactly Link was choosing not to say - but Link’s face, pale with chill, was just too pathetic a sight for him to focus on anything but his rapidly mounting sympathy.

“I’ll start the bath. You can probably get the rest of this off now,” he told Link. He hurried off down the hall to the sounds of Link grunting and shivering as he finished working his jeans off his body, and flipped the light switch.

The light came on, flickered, and then suddenly the room went dark again as a huge peal of thunder echoed nearby. Rhett groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. _Seriously?_

“Think your power’s out, dude,” Link called helpfully from the other room.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rhett grumbled, stumbling as he left the bathroom and made his way carefully into the kitchen, where one of the junk drawers revealed their emergency supply of plain white pillar candles. He pulled out two of them, set them on the counter, and then for good measure pulled out two more. Taking those two and a box of matches with him, he headed for the main room where Link was undressing and set them down, one on either side of a table. He struck a match and lit them, inhaling the smell of sulfur and wet cotton hanging heavy in the room. When he turned to Link, his breath caught in his throat.

Link was standing now, the backs of his knees against the sofa, completely nude. His jeans and briefs lay crumpled in a heap beside the couch, and his face was obscured by the towel he was using to once again ruffle at his face and wet hair. Rhett took in the long, lean lines of him, the wet-dark hair on his chest and belly and thighs clinging to his skin, the way his torso vibrated with shivers and his nipples appeared to be tight icy buds on either side of his chest. Rhett rarely studied his friend’s body with such attention to detail - he rarely had the opportunity, at least like _this_ \- but now he found he couldn’t tear his eyes away. As his gaze dropped lower, down Link’s belly and hips to the space between his thighs, he was suddenly startled by a shaky snort.

“That’s weird. Knock it off,” Link demanded. Rhett dragged his eyes up to Link’s face, feeling heat bloom on the back of his neck in embarrassment as he realized Link was now watching Rhett look at him. He was suddenly entirely too aware that they were alone in his house at nearly two in the morning, staring at each other by candlelight, while one of them wore only boxers and the other was completely nude. They had seen each other like this before, of course they had, but it had been a very long time.

And he was pretty sure there were never candles.

“Gonna start that bath,” he mumbled, and rushed from the room.

***

The gurgle of the bath filling wasn’t enough to distract Rhett from his thoughts as he set up a candle on either end of the bathroom counter, lighting them before staring at his own reflection in the mirror. He knew he shouldn’t stare too long - knew his image might distort and freak him out on this already unsettling night - but he chanced a few seconds of study before turning away. He didn’t _look_ like the sort of man who stared at the nude bodies of his friends when they were cold and suffering, but apparently he was. He hoped when Link made his way down the hall to the bath, they could just pretend it never happened and focus on getting him warm. After all, Rhett hadn’t asked for any of this to happen. He still felt clueless, unsure what it was that had brought Link to his door in the pouring rain.

Rhett licked his dry lips before drawing a full glass of cold water from the tap and drinking it down greedily, his parched throat welcoming it. He rinsed his mouth quickly with a capful of mouthwash and downed a second glass of water before leaning heavily on the countertop and exhaling a tired, befuddled sigh.

“Is it ready?” Link murmured from the doorway. Rhett hesitated before turning, afraid his best friend might still be nude and his eyes might betray him again. But when he chose to look up instead and take in Link’s reflection in the mirror, he saw that Link had one of the towels slung loosely around his hips, hanging low enough that Rhett could see the fine dark hair trailing downward from his navel but nothing more. He swallowed and glanced back at the tub.

“Yeah, nearly,” he replied gruffly. “You want bubbles or oil or something?”

“No,” Link scoffed, then after a second, “Um. Well. Maybe some oil, I guess? So the hot water doesn’t dry out my skin,” he added hastily.

Rhett grabbed a bottle of bath oil and bent over, pouring a stream under the running water. Even in the candlelight, he could see the surface of the water slicken and reflect the flickering flames in hints of rainbow hues. The scents of sandalwood and musk, teak and rain rose on the steam and filled his nostrils, and he sighed unconsciously. It was _his_ bath oil - rarely used because he rarely bathed - but chosen because the fragrance notes were so deeply appealing. And now Link’s skin would be covered in it. _Perfect._

He turned off the water and stood, forcing himself to face Link as though nothing was strange at all about this night. Link was still shivering, but just the warmth and steam of the bathroom appeared to be helping. Rhett mustered up a smile. “There. I’ll start some water boiling for tea.”

“Thanks,” Link said softly. Rhett was about to move past him when the movement of Link’s hand captured his attention, and his breath caught in his throat. Heedless of the fact that Rhett was still in the room - or perhaps _because_ he was - Link let his towel slide from his hips to puddle on the floor around his feet. Rhett was so close, he could have reached out and touched the other man. _Anywhere_. He gritted his teeth and shouldered past Link instead, careful to avoid even brushing against his body.

The kitchen felt safe enough, half a house away, and Rhett rubbed the back of his neck wearily as the freshly-filled kettle heated. He watched the water slowly come to a boil - one of his favorite parts of tea preparation thanks to the glass electric kettle he’d purchased a few years back when switching from coffee - but it failed to captivate and calm him the way it usually did. His brain was whirling with questions: why was Link here? Why hadn’t he turned around and gone home when it began to rain? Why was he behaving like being naked - repeatedly - around Rhett was no big deal? He was usually even more modest and apprehensive about total nudity than Rhett, despite his perpetual shirtless state during their college years.

Rhett knit his brow in confusion as he grabbed for a huge mug and hung a loose leaf tea infuser from the edge of it, filled with his favorite herbal tea blend. As the kettle simmered down from its boil, Rhett lifted it and poured the steaming water into the mug. He cradled it carefully in his hands and made his way back down the hall to the bathroom.

“Want me to leave this outside?” he called through the crack in the door.

Sounds of splashing answered him, then, “Um. No, you can bring it in.”

Rhett frowned, but nudged the door open with his shoulder and made his way in anyway. He noticed his old robe hanging on the back of the door, and made a note to put it on before he left the room again. He was starting to feel a bit conspicuous in just his boxers. “Yeah, okay. Here.” He kept his eyes carefully averted and pushed the mug in the direction of the tub.

Link chuckled softly. “You think you can stand to look at me, brother? I can’t even begin to reach that mug the way you’re holding it.”

Rhett glanced over and realized he was extending the drink about a foot and a half too high for Link to reach. “Shit. Sorry. Here.” He shifted and Link took the mug from him, wincing at the heated ceramic and setting it gingerly on the edge of the tub almost immediately.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. Just - I’m gonna go find some clothes for you to wear. Then maybe we can talk, or I can just drive you back to your place. Christy’s gonna worry.”

Link tilted his head curiously. Rhett could see the way the bath oil had slicked his skin all the way up to his collarbones, and he couldn’t help but notice that Link wasn’t obscuring any part of his body despite his friend’s proximity. Rhett could really look, if he wanted; he could even get down on his knees and - 

“Did you forget Chris took the kids to Santa Barbara for the weekend? Lily’s looking at the school there and the boys wanted to go on a road trip. I think they’re feeling a bit restless lately. Anyway, no one’s worrying about me tonight. Except you, maybe.” He tentatively lifted the mug of tea to his lips and blew. “You put any of whatever you were drinking tonight in here? Make it a tea toddy or something?”

Rhett frowned. “What I - _oh_.” He suddenly remembered - 

_A tumbler of whiskey. Too lazy to mix a decent martini, he’d just grabbed a bottle of honey whiskey and poured a good three shots’ worth into the glass over a few cubes of ice and settled down in his backyard, listening to the soft sounds of the breeze and occasional passing traffic. He’d drunk it fast, too fast, and topped it off a few times with the bottle he’d brought out with him as well. And he’d texted -_

“I was texting you,” he blurted out. Link laughed, setting the tea down again.

“You seriously forgot?”

Rhett rubbed his forehead. “Damn. I guess I - guess I drank more than I thought? I really didn’t remember until just now. I was really sound asleep when you showed up, man.”

“Huh,” Link said quietly. He trailed fingers over the oil-slippery skin of his arm absently, and Rhett tried very hard not to follow the path of those fingertips with his eyes. He must still be a bit tipsy; that would explain his groggy state and inability to control his thoughts and eyes.

“Well, get out,” Link ordered abruptly. “Leave me some clothes outside. I’m about done with this bath concept.”

“ _Now_ you’re modest?” Rhett fired back, and Link scowled. If he didn’t know better, Rhett would have sworn Link was blushing. “Yeah, fine. Gotta find my phone anyway, I guess. Hope I didn’t leave it outside.”

“Yeah, Jess’ll kill you if you’ve got to replace two iPhones in a year cause of water damage,” Link snorted, grabbing for the towel he’d left on the floor as Rhett made his escape, yanking his ratty blue robe from the back of the bathroom door on his way out and shrugging his way into it as he headed for the stairs.

Upstairs in his bedroom, Rhett found an old pair of navy plaid pajama pants that had shrunk in the wash and a favorite tee of his from college. The pants were practically capris on him now but would probably come close to fitting Link, and the tee was dark grey, worn soft with years of washing until the old Wolfpack logo was practically invisible. He dug in his top drawer until he found a pair of MeUndies that he thought Link would appreciate: the bright yellow ones they had worn together for the cryotherapy shoot. His pair were a size larger than Link’s, but they would have to do. Piling the clothes up in his arms, he turned around and spied his cell phone sitting innocuously on his nightstand. He tossed his armful of clothes onto the bed and snatched it up.

“Thank god,” he muttered, pressing his thumb to the screen. Nothing. It was dead. “Dammit.”

He fumbled about in the drawer of his nightstand until he located a portable charger and hooked it up to the phone. Shoving the whole bundle into the pocket of his robe, he bounded down the stairs two at a time and dumped the clothes he’d chosen for Link outside the bathroom door. He called out to let Link know they were there, then made his way back to the main room to gather up Link’s wet clothes and the towels he’d left lying on the floor. He would take them out to the garage, he decided, and toss them into the dryer to tumble dry once the power came back on. Hopefully, he told himself, in an hour or two Link would be right as rain. The power would come back on, his clothes would be dry, and Rhett could drive him home - after sussing out his purpose for coming over in the middle of the night, that is.

Out in the garage, Rhett pulled out his phone and powered it on, eager to see what he had been texting about with Link all night before he had passed out in bed. He tapped his fingers against the back of his phone case as the phone came to life, impatiently unlocking it and thumbing open the texting app. It was still open to his text thread with Link, and Rhett scrolled up and read the night’s exchange with narrowed eyes, memories hazily coming back to him as he scanned the screen.

***

_The whiskey burned his throat and made his head swim pleasantly, and he couldn’t resist opening his texts and messaging Link. He knew the other man would probably be asleep - it was almost midnight already - but there was always a chance. He was bored, and tipsy, and...lonely._

You up?

_He waited ten minutes, sipping his drink and letting his head fall back against the lounge chair’s wooden back, his long hair a somewhat adequate cushion. When there was no reply, he almost abandoned the idea. But...just one more text._

I’m alone at the house. Jess and the boys are gone. Can’t sleep. Don’t know what to do with all this freedom.

_Another five minutes, and then a glance revealed tiny texting bubbles in the corner of his screen. Rhett felt his heart thud a bit faster against his ribs._

**You could do a lot of things besides text me this late.**

_Rhett grinned. Late-night Link snark. Perfect entertainment._

Such as?

**Watch some shitty horror movie. Something gritty. Listen to Merle. Drink.**

I’m already drinking. Whiskey.

**Good for you.**

Got any other ideas?

_A long pause, and then the typing bubbles again. Rhett held his breath, wondering if Link would be serious or silly or -_

**Guess you could romance yourself a little, brother. Since you’re on your own. All that freedom.**

Romance myself? Seriously? Like candles and massage oil and shit? _Rhett couldn’t resist responding._

Now, Rhett found himself swallowing hard as he read his own response to Link’s suggestive text. Candles? Oil? If that was romance, then everything he’d provided for Link tonight thanks to the storm was building a slope that was rapidly becoming slippery.

_He drained the rest of his drink and decided against refilling it again. He could handle his liquor better than most, but he still knew his limits and had no desire for a hangover the next morning. Tucking his phone into his pocket, he scooped up the whiskey bottle and his glass and headed inside, tucking the tumbler into the dishwasher and replacing the bottle on the bar cart. He made his way upstairs and stripped off his clothes, down to his boxer shorts, before grabbing his phone out of his pants pocket again and checking for Link’s response._

**I don’t know how you usually do it. But sure.**

_He typed back a quick response._ Not gonna tell you how I usually do it. But I don’t say ‘romance myself’, that’s for sure.

**Not asking, Rhett.**

_He crawled into the enormous bed, scooching down under the layers of blankets and relishing the cool slide of his sheets on his skin. With a contented sigh, he glanced over at Jessie’s side of the bed and grabbed for his phone again._

Bed’s big. Cold. Lots of space without Jess here, even though she’s freakin' tiny.

 _A pause, typing bubbles, and then:_ **I would have thought you’d appreciate that.**

I mean, yeah. Sure. But I’ve had like seven shots of whiskey, man.

**Not sure what that has to do with it?**

_He laughed aloud._ You know how I get. Wanna cuddle. Hold someone. Touch them.

_He sighed and nestled his head deeper into the pillows. His mind was spinning, following rarely-trodden trails onto dangerous ground. But he couldn’t resist. When Link’s response finally made his darkened phone vibrate, he thumbed on the screen and read the words eagerly._

**Do you now.**

_That was it. Simple inquiry. But he knew Link well enough to know that punctuation choices, even this late, were not usually accidental. Link prided himself on his communication skills, even if he wasn’t the writer that his best friend was. The use of a period instead of a question mark? He could hear Link’s voice in his head, hear the difference that simple choice made._

Yes, _he typed back, just as simply. No punctuation. Just one word. Then, unable to resist:_

I bet you would take up way more space than Jess.

_With a sigh and a yawn, he set the phone down on his nightstand and closed his eyes, waiting for another vibration to alert him to Link’s inevitable reply._

***

Rhett groaned and dragged the fingers of his free hand through his hair. That must have been when he fell asleep. He could see a series of unanswered texts from Link filling the rest of the message box and scrolled through them, reading quickly.

**What is that supposed to mean?**

**Rhett?**

**Dude, come on. Are you serious? Because I can’t tell if you’re lonely or horny or just drunk or all three.**

**You can’t just SAY shit like that, dude.**

**Seriously, you need to answer me. I don’t like it when you mess around like this.**

**Rhett???**

**Answer your fucking phone dude**

**Fuck you better not have fallen down the stairs or passed out in your own puke you idiot**

**text me back or i’m coming over there**

Rhett switched over to his call log. _Seven missed calls._

“Ah, fuck,” he said quietly, with feeling.

“Guess you found your phone.”

Rhett looked up to see Link standing in the doorway, dressed in Rhett’s clothes. The grey tee hung loosely around Link’s slimmer arms and waist but stretched nicely across the breadth of his shoulders, the loose neckline showing off the jut of his collarbone. The pajama pants sat low on his hips, but where Rhett expected to see a hint of bright yellow from the boxer briefs he’d left for Link to wear, he saw only a hint of pale skin and the shadowed hollow of his hip. His feet were bare. Rhett swallowed hard.

“Uh, yeah,” he replied lamely. “Guess I know why you came over.”

“Mhm,” Link responded, folding his arms across his chest. “You fell asleep.” His tone was slightly accusatory, and Rhett didn’t have the courage to push back. He had messed up.

“Yeah,” he acknowledged. “I set my phone down waiting for you to reply and just - ”

“Passed out.”

“Yeah,” Rhett said again. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“In your bed,” Link stated, and it wasn’t remotely a question. Rhett nodded. “With all that freaking _space_.” His voice shook on the last word, and Rhett knew it was no longer from the rain and cold.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. Link frowned.

“Are you?”

Rhett hesitated. He was tired and jittery and still kind of tipsy and so, so thirsty. And confused.

“I think so?” he offered, and Link sighed heavily.

“I don’t want to go home,” he said quietly. “It’s late, and we’re both tired. There’s no power. I don’t want you driving, and if I drive us back to my place, we’re just back in the same boat at a different house. So I’m just gonna crash here, okay?”

Rhett licked his lips and nodded.

He followed Link back into the house, pausing to hand Link one of the candles from the living room as they went past and grabbing the other himself to light their way. Link had already put out the other two candles, he noticed as they passed the steamy bathroom. The scent of his bath oil hung heavy in the air, and Rhett’s weary brain suggested how much better it would smell on Link’s skin. He sighed softly, hoping Link wouldn’t notice.

“Forget where the guest room is, brother?” he asked with a chuckle when Link began climbing the stairs beside him. Link shot him a sideways glance without turning his head.

“Nope,” he replied firmly. Rhett frowned, and then Link continued, more gently: “It’s okay to be lonely sometimes, dude.”

_So Link is -_

“Oh, you don’t have to,” Rhett started, but Link paused on the landing and turned to him. Rhett was two steps below him, so Link stood about an inch taller in their current positions. Rhett had to fight back the shiver that trickled down his spine at the sensation of looking up into Link’s intense eyes.

“It’s okay,” Link said again, softly. “Let me take up space.”

Rhett suddenly felt a bit dizzy. Here, on his stairs, in the home he shared with his beloved wife and children, looking up into the face of the only man he could imagine trying to spend his life with, he felt as if he was on the edge of a precipice.

Abruptly, his exhausted brain dredged up an old, nearly-forgotten memory, playing it out behind his suddenly-closed eyes as he groped for the railing.

***

_“I’m telling you, it’s fine.”_

_He and Jessie were relaxing in the hot tub, half-drunk on margaritas, giddy with the pleasure of having the house to themselves for a whole weekend. The boys were over at the Neals’, an arrangement the couples had made back in their early marriages when rambunctious toddlers threatened their already precarious sex lives with extinction. Jessie’s bikini top had been abandoned on the wet tile around the tub several minutes prior, and she was straddling Rhett’s lap, giggling as his huge hands fondled her breasts lazily._

_“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he declared, ducking his head to kiss and lick the sweet length of her neck between collarbone and earlobe. She sighed and twined her arms around his neck, wriggling her bottom against the swell in his swim trunks._

_“All these years and it’s never even crossed your mind?” she demanded after a minute, pulling back so she could study his face with serious honey-brown eyes. Rhett sighed._

_“Why’re you hung up on this, baby? I love you.”_

_“You love him, too.”_

_“It’s different._ Very _different.”_

_“If you say so,” she mumbled, and Rhett sighed again before giving her nipples a teasing pinch. She squealed._

_They kissed fiercely and touched each other above and beneath the water, fingers gliding slickly and finding their way beneath sodden fabric and onto heated flesh. Eventually they made their way from the hot tub to the pile of blankets Jessie had laid out, naked under the stars and impossibly hungry. Rhett pulled his gorgeous wife atop him as he spread out luxuriously on the blankets, settling her into their favorite position and relishing her soft, throaty groan as he filled her._

_“You feel so good,” he moaned, turning his head so he could kiss her knuckles where her hands were braced on his shoulders. She whimpered._

_“Do you think he would feel good, too?”_

_Rhett bit back a strangled sound, and Jessie cried out as his hips bucked hard up into her. “Jess, god, don’t say that when I’m - ”_

_“Just want you to admit it,” she panted, moving her hips in a slow figure-eight that had him seeing stars. He grabbed at her waist, trying to hold her still so he could thrust up into her, but she resisted him. “Admit you’ve thought about it.”_

_“Fine,” he gritted out almost angrily, dragging his fingers down the length of her creamy thighs none too gently. She whimpered again. “Maybe a couple of times. I dreamed about it, I guess. Woke up, um, you know.”_

_“Aroused?” she whispered, crying out almost immediately when one of his fingers found its way to her clit, circling it sweetly in apology for his rough caresses._

_“Yeah,” he said gruffly, and she squeezed her cunt around him so deliciously that he could have cried. “Yeah, Jess. Woke up so fucking hard.”_

_“And after?” Her face was flushed, damp hair piled up on her head with dark tendrils clinging to her face and neck and her lips parted on a litany of moans. Rhett thought suddenly, as he had a thousand times before, that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He’d do anything for her._

_Even confess._

_“Touched myself,” he groaned, and she echoed him, writhing against his cock and finger hungrily. “Got off. Couldn’t help it.” He closed his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat in embarrassment and an extra surge of arousal at the memories._

_“It’s okay,” she moaned, letting him finally clutch at her hips and hold her in place so he could plant his feet on the blankets and drive up into her eager body. “Oh, god - that’s what I’m saying. I’m saying it’s okay. And if he ever - ”_

_“No,” Rhett ground out, his voice sounding broken, but Jessie pressed on, dropping one of her hands between her thighs to tease her own clit frantically._

_“If you two ever - ”_

_“Jess,” he pleaded. He was so close, and it was fucking with his head to be on the brink of orgasm while she talked about his best friend, about_ sex _with his best friend, about -_

_“Just listen to me,” she begged him. “Hear what I’m saying. I know how it is, even if you don’t want to admit it. I can see it. And I’m telling you, it’s all okay with me. I know you’ll always be mine, even if someday you’re his, too.”_

_“Fine, fine,” Rhett gasped. “Baby, just stop, please. I hear you. But I’m gonna come.”_

_“For me?” she asked, and he stared up at her in shock. “Or for him?”_

_“Jess.” He felt like his heart was splitting open in his chest even as his climax threatened to wash over him. “I love you. I’m only here with_ you _.”_

_“Oh, baby,” she cooed, grabbing at his shoulders again so she could take over and ride him, hard and fast. “I think you misunderstood.” She leaned over as far as she could, looking straight into his eyes as she murmured,_

_“I want you to come for both of us.”_

***

“Fuck,” Rhett said, and stumbled up the last two steps before sitting down at the edge of the landing, hard.

Link had already taken his candle and was staring down at him, his face contorted in concern. “What just happened?” he asked sharply.

“Got dizzy,” Rhett gasped out, truthfully. After a pause, Link set the candles down on the table behind them on the landing and joined him, legs stretched out to trail down the stairs beside Rhett’s own. Rhett sucked in a slow, shaky breath, still shaken by the memory. He had ignored the conversation the next morning, and Jessie had never brought it up again, apparently content that Rhett’s confessions, acknowledgement, and mind-blowing orgasm had settled the matter. Now, he wondered if his wife actually knew him so much better than he knew himself.

He fumbled for Link’s hand suddenly, tangling his fingers between the other man’s and tugging their clasped hands onto his thigh. Link was very still for a long moment, and then Rhett felt a gentle squeeze that he returned gratefully.

“Are you still drunk?” Link asked quietly. Rhett shook his head slowly.

“Maybe a little tipsy,” he admitted. “Maybe a little hungover. But no. I’m not drunk.”

“Good,” Link replied. “Can you stand now?”

Rhett nodded and Link gently pulled them both to their feet, using the handhold for leverage. They each grabbed a candle without releasing one another’s hands and made their way into the bedroom. Rhett set his candle on his nightstand and watched as Link made his way to the other side of the bed and set his down as well.

“Is this okay?” Link’s face was very serious in the flickering light.

_I’m telling you, it’s fine._

Rhett shook his head to displace the memory, then nodded quickly. “Sorry. Yes. It’s - it’s fine.”

Link stood still, watching him for a long moment. Finally, he inquired, “Are you planning to sleep in your robe?”

“Oh! No.” Rhett pulled his phone and charger from his pocket and dropped them onto his nightstand before untying the belt and shrugging off the robe. He didn’t mean for it to slide from his shoulders in a cascade of fabric and pool alluringly around his feet, but somehow it did. Or so he secretly hoped.

Link reached for the hem of the tee shirt he was wearing and Rhett swallowed audibly. “You’re not wearing that to sleep?”

“No,” Link said easily. “I’m warm now.” He tugged it over his head and dropped it to the floor, leaving behind messy silver hair and wafting the scent of sandalwood in Rhett’s direction. Rhett inhaled, too deep, and felt his head swim again. “C’mon, let’s get some rest.”

They both crawled into the bed, tussling a little over the distribution of the blankets, and Rhett felt his chest warm with the familiarity of it all. Early on in their post-engineering career, trying to balance their interest in entertainment with their perceived calling in ministry, they had found themselves financially strapped more often than not, and room-sharing sometimes became bed-sharing under the most dire of circumstances.

As kids, they had often stayed awake whispering and giggling into the wee hours, side by side in sleeping bags either on a bedroom floor or separated from the hard ground by a thin slippery layer of tent fabric. And a few times during those childhood sleepovers, when one of them started the night in a sleeping bag beside the other’s bed, the morning found them curled up together on the same squishy mattress, breathing stale sleepy breath into each other’s lax faces. But that had been at the very beginning, and Rhett’s father had put a stop to it pretty quickly without ever explaining exactly why. Now, of course, Rhett knew why.

Probably, all along, he had been trying to protect them from _this_.

 _This_ being the way the fond warmth Rhett felt stirring in his chest was spreading, curling into undeniable heat on his cheeks and the back of his neck and deep in his belly. Heat at the way Link nuzzled down into the pillows and tucked the blanket up all the way to his chin; the way his body shifted and nudged its way toward the middle of the enormous mattress, seeking out Rhett’s body like he was a magnet searching for polar North. The way he turned his face toward Rhett, eyes already half-mast and sleepy, and sighed softly with breath that carried the scent of mint and the bowl of cereal he had probably made himself for dinner. All of it made Rhett’s love and affection and desire coil around themselves into a tangle of _need_ that immediately set itself ablaze.

“You gonna sleep, brother?” came Link’s voice, soft and sweet and just a little low. Rhett let himself imagine, just for a moment, that it was dipping deep and rough with the same feelings stealing his own breath.

“Yeah, in a minute,” he forced out, and scrabbled for his phone on his bedside table. Link squinted against the bright light as Rhett thumbed it on, and he quickly dimmed the screen as far as it could go before the other man could grumble out a complaint. “Just gonna, I dunno. Check the socials.”

Link made a disgruntled humming sound and squirmed closer again, and Rhett swallowed hard at the feel of a slim leg pressing up against his own from mid-thigh to ankle. He watched Link tuck his hands beneath his head, elbows jutting out to either side, and fix his gaze on the ceiling to stare sleepily while Rhett opened Twitter, then Instagram. Rhett wasn’t really interested in anything the internet had to offer, but the jittery jostle of nerves in his belly refused to let him be fully present in the moment, in this bed. He closed the apps and flipped open the texting app again, rereading the exchange with Link. This time, he couldn’t stifle a chuckle at the stream of texts his best friend had sent, and Link cracked open an eye to peek over at him in annoyance. When he saw what Rhett was reading, he huffed out an irritated sound.

“Not funny, dude. I really thought you might have hurt yourself or something.”

Rhett glanced at him and then away, biting his lip. “Yeah. I know. Sorry.”

Link closed his eyes again with another small sound of unhappiness, and Rhett pressed his lips together tightly. It would be so easy to slip down under the blankets, too; to let himself be quiet in the welcoming darkness, side by side with Link, and let all the feelings from tonight and this year and the past two and a half decades do with them what they may. But.

_But._

With a soft sigh, Rhett opened Instagram again and impulsively decided to post a picture he now vaguely remembered taking earlier that evening, out by the pool in the backyard: whiskey in hand, moonlight hitting the water just right, a breeze stirring the trees. It would be pretty, and he hadn’t posted a photo in a couple of weeks. Plus, it would be a few more minutes of welcome distraction. His photos popped up in the app, and Rhett stared at them in shock, unable to stifle the tiny gasp that slipped out from between his lips as he backed out of the screen, closed the app, and let the phone slip from his trembling fingers onto the duvet.

Link stirred at the movement and curled over onto his side, nestling his head on Rhett’s pillows near his left shoulder. “You posting something?” he asked softly, opening his eyes when Rhett failed to respond. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Rhett whispered, but Link was already fumbling for Rhett’s phone in the darkness, and his fingers closed around it before Rhett could even move to grab for it first. He rolled over onto his back and pressed his thumb to the fingerprint reader - they had added each other’s prints to their phones years ago, just in case of the unthinkable - and opened it. Rhett watched in horror as Link went immediately for the photo app, rightly guessing that whatever had startled Rhett was in his photo album.

It was as if everything was underwater, or moving in slow motion. “Link,” Rhett pleaded, tongue thick in his mouth, Adam's apple bobbing dryly in his throat. “Link, don’t - ”

Photo after photo filled the screen as Link slowly flicked through them, very different from the twilit backyard pictures Rhett had been in search of for his post. In them, Rhett was sprawled out on the very bed in which they lay, wearing the soft, worn boxers he was currently sporting and nothing else. His chest was bare, nipples tight and skin softly flushed with drink and arousal. For there was no doubt: he was aroused. Rhett felt his heart flutter helplessly against his sternum, panicked and humiliated, as Link reached the first of the half-dozen or so pictures and swiped back through them in chronological order, much more slowly. Studying them.

Rhett forced himself to look, to take in his own wild curls, jaw-length and untamed, spilling out in a puddle of gold and auburn against the stark white of his pillows; the endless expanse of bare chest and arms, downy with dark blond hair and decorated with constellations of freckles; the sweep of his lashes, long and thick and dark, against his blush-red cheeks. He flinched away from the too-eager shape of his mouth, the sink of white teeth into the plumpness of his own bottom lip; he was shameless in his own attempts at seduction (of whom?). When Link reached the second to last picture, Rhett let out a small, involuntary sound: he had angled the phone camera down to take in the wanton plunge of his hand beneath the loose waistband of his boxers, thumb teasing at the trail of hair guiding the interested eye from the dip of his navel to the promise of what lay beneath the thin cotton.

“Rhett,” Link said softly, his tone indecipherable, and then he swiped to the final photo.

It was a shot of soft-firm belly, fuzzy hair and plaid cotton, the tops of parted thighs. Perfectly framed in the center of the picture was the clear outline of Rhett’s cock, hard and thick and beginning to nudge its way out of the opening in the front of his boxers. One huge hand cupped it, cradling it in such a way to make its existence more apparent rather than coyly hide it from observing eyes. It was, without a doubt, the most explicit picture Rhett had ever dared to take of his own body. Staring at it on his phone, resting in Link’s once-again trembling hands - it took everything in him not to bolt out of the bed, the room, the house.

The city, maybe. Maybe the state.

“Turn it off,” he choked out, and to his credit, Link immediately obeyed. He laid the phone down on the duvet beside Rhett’s hand, and it was only then that Rhett realized he was gripping the fabric of the comforter hard enough to rip it. He forced his fingers to relax, then his arms, his back, his jaw.

“So that’s what you were doing while I was panic-texting you,” Link said at last, his voice quiet and just a little dry, as if he was reaching for humor but completely at a loss. “Taking dirty pics for Jessie?”

Rhett laughed, and it came out a hiccuping half-sob. “We don’t sext each other,” he muttered, closing his numb fingers around his phone and passing it from hand to hand so he could abandon it on his nightstand. “I - no. I wouldn’t have taken them for Jessie. I don’t _remember_ taking them, I don’t think.”

“But you took them tonight.”

Link’s voice is soft and sure. They have both recognized his clothes, or lack thereof; they’re the last photos in his camera roll, taken after the whiskey, the backyard, the sloppy, sleepy text exchanges. Taken before the panic, the passing out, the power outage. Before a bath and a bed.

“Yeah.” Rhett closed his eyes, for just a moment - 

***

 _He was beyond tipsy, silly with it, and his head spun gently as he lay snuggled in his blankets, waiting for Link to text back. He hated being old enough now that getting drunk made him sleepy instead of horny. Or sleepy_ and _horny, rather, he thought to himself with an internal giggle. Link’s suggestion -_ Guess you could romance yourself a little, brother - _lingered in his mind, and he grabbed for his phone again, turning on the bedside lamp for a little mood lighting. Maybe he could peruse the dirty side of the internet, just for a few minutes; he rarely resorted to porn because it always made him feel a little guilty, but he could feel the tug of desire twisting lazily in his belly and thrumming in his heated blood, and it would be the easiest way to get himself off before he fell asleep. A text notification popped up, but it was from Link so he ignored it for the moment: too dangerous._

_What would Link see, if he was here instead of safely in his own house, his own bed, being a Responsible Adult who was definitely sober and not making questionable suggestions to his friends? Would he laugh at Rhett, all tousled hair and booze-red cheeks, squirming a bit on his sheets with a half-hard dick that was rapidly responding to the idea of porn and jerking off and Link watching him and…_

_He opened his camera app without another coherent thought and smirked up into his front camera dizzily, snapping a photo before extending his arm to take in the full expanse of his upper body as he yanked the covers off. Another shot caught the waistband of his boxers and_ fuck it _, he thought with a chuckle. He pointed the camera down his body and shoved his hand into his underwear, uttering a gasped-out groan as his fingertips brushed the bare skin of his cock and desire surged, fierce and eager. Pulling his hand out of his boxers, he adjusted the phone yet again and photographed his erection tenting the soft cotton, tucking his fingers under it and urging it tight against the fabric until a hint of pink cockhead was just visible through the slit._

 _He laughed aloud again at his own audacity and backed out of the camera app, vowing to delete the lewd photos in the morning once he saw how ridiculous they truly were. Still, he was both shocked and horribly turned on at the idea of them, at the idea of_ Link _seeing them, or standing at the foot of the bed, seeing him like this in person, silly and warm and so, so aroused -_

***

“Yeah,” Rhett said again, breathlessly, as the memory took form in his exhausted brain and a strong sense of _want_ resurged in him. He remembered now: taking the pictures and ignoring the texts, abandoning the idea of porn because he was so desperately aroused by the idea of _Link, Link, Link_ that he tossed his phone aside on his nightstand and took his cock in hand. He had tugged at it hard and frantically until, just a dozen or so strokes later, he spilled hot and slick on his own belly with a bellowed groan.

And then, after a hasty clean-up from a handful of tissues, he had fallen dead asleep.

“You remember it,” Link said beside him. He was still lying mostly on his back, but he had turned his head to face Rhett, pillowing it on his curled-up right arm so that the rest of his body shifted slightly onto his right side as well. Rhett glanced at him and nodded, shame-faced.

“I was a mess tonight,” he said lamely. “I had more to drink than I thought, and then I sent those stupid texts, and then I came up to bed and I guess I - ”

“Took some pretty explicit photos.”

Rhett swallowed. “Uh-huh.”

“For _not_ Jessie.”

He couldn’t speak. Link’s gaze was so intense that it felt like his eyes were burning into Rhett’s skin, even in the dim, candle-lit room.

“Rhett. Rhett, look at me.”

He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He _couldn’t_. The precipice, again.

“Did you take them - did you take them for _me_?”

And suddenly Link was moving, shifting, close and then closer until the covers were pushed down their bodies. Link lifted one slim leg, straddling him, bracketing his hips with strong thighs and his face with trembling hands. Rhett shut his eyes against the closeness, breathing hard and fast through his parted lips, and felt the world spin around him again despite his now-absolute sobriety. Once again, all he could think was _Link, Link, Link_ , like his brain was a record skipping on a well-worn groove, catching repeatedly on his favorite sound in the world.

“Say no, and we’ll go to sleep,” Link whispered, and Rhett could feel warm breath whispering over his face, his lips, his throat. His throat caught on a soundless whimper at the sensation. “I promise. We’ll wake up tomorrow, and we’ll chalk this up to alcohol and anxiety and a weird storm. You’ll delete those pictures, and we’ll both delete the texts, and it’ll be said and done and forgotten. I promise. But if you say yes - ” Link’s breath caught in his throat and Rhett’s eyes flew open to take in his friend’s face in the warm flickering light, roaming over the flush high on his cheekbones, the intensity in his bright blue eyes, the way his teeth worried at his lip, just for a moment. Their gazes locked, and Link let out the breath he had been holding in a desperate, moaning exhalation. “Ah, fuck, Rhett. Say yes.”

“Yes,” Rhett gasped, and Link kissed him.

The moment froze as heat spread like wildfire through Rhett’s body, from each point of contact between their bodies to the tips of his fingers and toes. He could feel all the air in his body locked up in his lungs, burning against the absolute stillness of his limbs and his mouth. When time resumed, speeding up and flinging him back into awareness, Rhett found himself clutching at his best friend’s hair tightly, kissing him fiercely as Link made a soft sound into the scant space of their open mouths. He forced himself to unclench his fingers, to gentle the movements of his lips until Link could slowly pull back and gasp for air. He looked down into Rhett’s face with eyes blazing dark and color high on his cheekbones, and Rhett thought for one delirious moment that he had never seen anything he wanted so badly in his entire life.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since you answered the door in your underwear,” Link told him breathlessly, and Rhett stifled a laugh that threatened to unspool into a sob.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for twenty-five years.”

The look that crossed Link’s face then was a heartbreaking blend of wonder and grief, and Rhett could hardly bear it. He swiftly pulled Link into another kiss and rolled the smaller man’s body beneath his own. Link gasped into his mouth and moaned softly when Rhett released his lips and kissed hungrily down the expanse of his throat, noticing the newness of the transition from prickly stubble to softness.

“Is this okay?” he asked Link, barely lifting his mouth enough to get the words out. Link groaned and sunk his fingers into Rhett’s hair, more gently than he ever had in all the years of their friendship. Rhett shivered at the sensation, daring to close his teeth lightly around Link’s Adam's apple in response, just for a moment.

“Shut up,” Link murmured fondly. Then, following a wanton moan as Rhett ventured to tease a pinch around his nipple: “How do you know what the hell you’re doing?”

“I don’t,” Rhett confessed, smoothing his palms up along Link’s sides from his jutting hip bones to the warm hollows under his arms. “I just can’t imagine not touching you anymore.”

They fell into the heat of it, touching each other’s bodies eagerly in a bed lit only by the flicker of candlelight and the occasional bolt of lightning splitting the storming sky. Rhett felt an unaccountable shyness when Link tucked his fingers under the waistband of Rhett’s boxers and wiggled them down his thighs, laughing and pushing Rhett onto his back so he could drag them down the taller man’s legs and toss them to the floor. He couldn’t hide the way his body had responded to all of this - the flushed length of his erection bobbing between his thighs and curving up toward his belly; the tight, sensitive buds of his nipples; the flush of arousal that stained his chest from throat to sternum - but he was gratified to see similar signs of desire and need on Link’s face and body.

When he got Link’s body beneath his own again and crawled down between his thighs to divest him of his pajama pants, Rhett was entirely gratified to see and feel the strain of Link’s erection against the dark blue cotton. He worked them down Link’s legs and groaned aloud when Link’s cock sprang free, despite a shiver of trepidation as he licked his lips and stared at it. Link echoed his groan but gazed down at Rhett affectionately, and Rhett knew that his friend could still read his mind, even now.

“Rhett,” Link said softly. Rhett ignored him, wrapping slightly shaky fingers around the firm length of Link’s cock. Link exhaled hard and fumbled downward, grasping for his shoulder. “ _Rhett_.”

“It’s fine,” Rhett mumbled, letting his hand slide up until the head of Link’s cock disappeared inside his grasp and _oh_. It was slick and somehow familiar and entirely new, and Rhett felt his mouth water involuntarily. He licked his lips again, and Link shuddered.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to,” he said breathlessly, and Rhett shook his head stubbornly. He felt Link’s chuckle all the way down to his belly, where Rhett’s hand rested lightly, toying with the dark hair trailing down from his navel. “I know you got that sweet little mouth - ”

“Sweet, hm?” Rhett fired back, but there was no heat in his voice. He bit his bottom lip, hesitating, and then ducked his head down, swiping his tongue slowly over the head of Link’s cock. The moan wrenched from his friend’s throat at the simple motion made Rhett’s own cock twitch. He looked up in time to see Link’s eyes flutter shut before he dragged his tongue from the base of Link’s cock all the way to the tip, tasting skin and heat and salt and _Link_. It was intoxicating.

When Rhett finally wrapped his mouth around the head of Link’s aching cock and gave a tentative suck, he was gratified by the sight of Link groaning and squirming, hands clenching into the sheets at his sides reflexively. “Oh, brother,” he gasped out, “you should feel this, oh _god_ it’s so good.”

Rhett smirked and gave another deliberate suck before pulling off just enough to murmur, “I have gotten sucked off before, you know.” In response, Link’s hips bucked up helplessly as Rhett took him back in his mouth, and he quickly wrapped a hand around the base of Link’s erection to avoid choking.

“Sorry, sorry,” Link gasped, before pleading, “oh, god, say that again.”

Rhett quirked an eyebrow and bobbed his head teasingly once, twice before pulling off again. “Link,” he said, his voice rough and gravelly even to his own ears. “I’ve gotten sucked off before, brother. Many times.”

“Not by me,” Link blurted out abruptly, and before Rhett could respond, his head was being pushed away by Link’s shaky, eager hands. He was about to protest when Link nudged and shoved at him until he rolled onto his back in the middle of the bed with a huff.

“Link, jeez, I was in the middle of - ”

“Yeah, I know, just - ” Link knelt and studied him for a minute, all broad shoulders and slim waist and flushed cock in the candlelight, and Rhett felt an odd lurch in his chest. He grabbed eagerly for Link’s hips, rubbing his thumbs over the hollows there and feeling Link squirm.

“C’mon, Link, c’mon,” he growled, and Link let himself be tugged forward a bit. “Need you,” he added softly, unable to keep a hint of a whimper out of his voice, and he watched goosebumps spring to the surface of Link’s skin, traveling up his arms and across his thighs.

“Here,” Link offered, curling his body up on the mattress beside Rhett, carefully tucking his bent legs above Rhett’s head on the pillow and resting his own head on his arm, inches from Rhett’s thighs. Rhett let out a shaky breath as he realized what Link intended, instinctively reaching for Link’s hip to pull the other man’s body even closer.

“Gonna suck you off,” Link confided breathily. Rhett let his desire for it groan out of his chest as he took Link’s cock in his mouth again, barely resisting the urge to thrust when finally, _finally_ he felt Link’s warm, wet mouth easily wrap around half of his throbbing cock.

They fell into a rhythm, hands stroking what their mouths couldn’t reach, each of them fighting the bone-deep desire to rut and fuck their way deep into each other’s throats. Link’s sounds were soft, high and airy around his thick mouthful in a way that made Rhett’s blood burn, remembering late nights in the dorm and the early years of entertainment before success found them, when Link’s voice was younger and less sure, more southern but just as sweet. His own pleasure seemed to express itself in desperate growls and occasional punched-out moans, as Link sucked him deeply and desperately.

When Rhett drew back to tease his tongue under the ridge of Link’s cockhead, he felt Link arch forward into him. Rhett dug his fingers harder into the other man’s hip in response, sure he would leave tiny fingertip bruises but unable to care. He lapped over and over at that spot, relishing the way Link writhed and clutched at his ass, his fingers gentler on Rhett’s skin but no less needy. Rhett let his own head fall back as Link responded to him by taking his cock as deep as he could manage, swallowing hard and wetly around the length of him until his nose was brushing dark-blonde curls.

“Ah, _fuck_ , Link,” Rhett keened, too overcome to do much more but fondle and stroke Link’s cock as he was sucked deep into his friend’s mouth, over and over again. Link pulled him closer, whimpering and making occasional soft choking sounds around his cock that Rhett was almost ashamed to admit were pushing him closer to the edge, well beyond his control. “Link, fuck, I’m so close - ”

“Suck me, god, please suck me,” Link gasped out, hand working over the spit-slick length of Rhett’s cock eagerly, and Rhett dove forward, clutching at him, unwilling to do anything but obey. No sooner had Rhett gotten his hand wrapped around the delicious length of his friend’s cock and fitted his lips over the head of it than Link cried out and jerked forward into Rhett’s fist and mouth, tumbling over the edge into climax. Rhett moaned and swallowed quickly before pulling back, stroking Link through his orgasm and feeling the hot spurts of his come land on his lips, his beard, his throat. His own cock throbbed painfully, but he stayed with Link, gentling and slowing his strokes as Link’s moans quieted, and lapping softly at the tip to catch the last few drops of come. Link whimpered and squirmed in his grip, immediately flopping onto his back with a groan when Rhett released him.

Rhett let his own hand fall to his neglected cock, certain that Link would be too overcome to continue. He looked as if he could pass out, skin slick with sweat and the remnants of bath oil, glistening in the candlelight as his chest heaved for every breath. Rhett stared at him hungrily as his fingers closed eagerly around his own length, and he couldn’t hold back the soft, needy sound that escaped him.

Link’s eyes shot open and he rolled over onto his belly with an energy that Rhett had not expected. He shoved his way between Rhett’s legs, batting Rhett’s hand aside and grasping his cock just this side of too tightly. “Mine,” he rumbled, sinking his mouth back down onto it as far as he dared. Rhett hissed and fought the rise of his hips as Link shot him an arch look and sucked hard, drawing his head back until just the tip of Rhett’s cock remained in his mouth, resting wetly on his tongue. He began to stroke, slowly and tightly, jerking Rhett off into his mouth while he suckled earnestly, occasionally letting the tip of his tongue wriggle and tease along every bit of Rhett’s cockhead that he could reach.

Rhett felt the build of pleasure hit him like an electric surge to the gut; one moment, he was moaning and panting out his pleasure into the humid air, and the next his whole body was tensing. He barely got out, “Oh, fuck, I’m gonna - ” before he was coming, Link’s name a chanted litany falling from his lips in cries and growls. Link sucked and stroked without pause, dragging him higher and higher in his climax until Rhett thought for certain he would never be able to relax the tension of his pleasure. His back was arched, fingers clawing the sheets, eyes squeezed tightly against the desire to scream out a lifetime of _want_ finally breaking free of his body. Link wrung him dry of every last drop of pleasure, sucking him softly until Rhett finally nudged his head away with a squirming sigh.

Rhett rolled over onto his back, one arm draped over his eyes to shut out even the soft light of the still-burning candles, and took in the hush of the house: the soft whirr of a fan a few rooms away, the fading sounds of the storm still evident in occasional howls of wind and the ongoing patter of rain on the roof. He sucked in a startled breath when Link’s mouth descended again, kissing softly over the inside of his thighs, the soft hills of his hip bones, the fuzzy expanse of his belly, even the sticky half-hard length of his satisfied cock. Rhett moaned softly and shifted his body in lazy pleasure, letting one big hand fall to Link’s hair to stroke the silver-dark strands as Link slowly worshiped him with his mouth. Kisses and kitten licks made Rhett shiver and toss his head a bit on the pillows...until something just a little wetter splashed against his skin - once, twice - and he opened his eyes.

“Link,” he said softly. Link was just kissing a single spot high up on his right thigh over and over, fingers plucking at the skin of Rhett’s hips restlessly, eyelashes resting dark and wet on his cheeks. Rhett tugged gently on Link’s hair, then on his shoulders until Link allowed himself to be directly slowly upward. At last Rhett pulled Link into his arms and laid him against his chest, kissing his still-damp dark hair lovingly while Link continued to dampen his friend’s skin with a few trickling tears.

“Do you...regret this?” Rhett forced himself to ask finally. Link was quiet and warm in his embrace, but the occasional tear continued to find its way to Rhett’s skin. Link inhaled sharply at the question and went still in his arms, and Rhett found himself holding his breath, terrified.

“I never let myself want this,” Link said at last, his voice trembling with emotion as it had with cold just an hour or two before. “For so long, I told myself I didn’t. And then, when I - when I realized I _did_ , I just kept reminding myself of all the reasons I could never have it.”

“Link,” Rhett exhaled, sounding pained, but Link pushed himself up to look Rhett in the eyes, his own glassy with a sheen of still-unshed tears. He shifted until he was sitting astride Rhett’s hips, looking him in the face with an expression of determination.

“No matter what anyone said,” he continued, “no matter how much I came to terms with who I am, made peace with myself and what I want - what I’ve _always_ wanted...god, even after I broke down to Christy and she told me it was okay, we could make it work - I just knew it would never happen. I would never be with another man, never mind you.” His voice broke as his eyes dropped to Rhett’s chest, unable to maintain the intensity of the eye contact. “And now - and _now_ \- ”

Rhett pushed himself up to sitting, gathering Link close to him in his lap and burying his face in the soft, scented skin of his throat. He let his fingers trail soothingly down the length of Link’s back, over and over, willing his hands to convey his love, his desire, and even his regret somehow into Link’s consciousness through tenderness on his skin. When Link’s trembling died away again, and his breathing evened out into something more peaceful and less pained, Rhett drew back and looked up into his best friend’s eyes once more, reaching up with one hand to cup Link’s strong, stubbled jawline and stroke his thumb lovingly over his cheek. Link closed his eyes and leaned into the caress with the most beautiful expression Rhett had ever witnessed on his face.

“And now,” Rhett agreed softly, imbuing the words with all the hope he had to offer from the deepest part of himself. Link hummed, nuzzling his hand, and Rhett claimed his mouth in a kiss that felt like a promise, a blood oath, half of something, _forever_.

The storm had passed, but everything else had only just begun.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Tumblr at secondhand-watermelon.


End file.
